El Cairo.– La represión y la
violencia volvió a apoderarse ayer de la plaza Tahrir de El
Cairo, símbolo de la revolución que puso fin a los 30 años
de Hosni Mubarak en el poder, luego de que las fuerzas de
seguridad reprimieron una manifestación para exigir la
renuncia del consejo militar que gobierna Egipto.
Los choques entre el ejército y miles
de manifestantes, que también pidieron que Mubarak y otros
ex dirigentes del régimen sean juzgados, dejaron un saldo
de un muerto y 71 heridos, según informó el Ministerio de
Salud egipcio. Sin embargo, fuentes médicas señalaron que
las víctimas mortales fueron dos, que serían las primeras
en una revuelta popular desde la caída de Mubarak, el 11 de
febrero.
A pesar de los violentos
enfrentamientos que se registraron en la mañana, muchos
manifestantes se quedaron en la plaza Tahrir para
reivindicar la formación de un consejo presidencial civil
que dirija al país hasta las elecciones.
"Nos quedaremos aquí hasta que
las demandas de la revolución sean cumplidas y Mubarak sea
juzgado", dijo Husam Abdelatif.
Otros dijeron que pensaban permanecer
en la plaza hasta que abandone el poder el presidente del
consejo militar, el general Mohammed Tantawi, designado por
Mubarak.
Adiós a la unión
Los graves incidentes fueron los
primeros registrados entre los manifestantes y el ejército,
que fue bien recibido cuando salió a las calles durante la
revolución, pero cuya imagen parece haberse deteriorado.
Los enfrentamientos dejaron en la
cuerda floja la unión entre los militares y el pueblo, tan
alabada durante la revolución y que algunos consideran
imprescindible para el futuro de Egipto.
Los motivos de los enfrentamientos son
confusos. Mientras que algunos manifestantes denunciaron un
ataque directo de los soldados, la cúpula militar acusó a
grupos rebeldes de provocar disturbios cuando las fuerzas
del orden intentaron hacer acatar el toque de queda.
Hero
of Egypt’s Revolution, Military Now Faces Critics
Cairo.–
A blogger was jailed recently for “insulting the
military.” Human rights advocates say that thousands of
people have been arrested and tried before military courts
in the last two months. Protesters have been tortured and
female activists subjected to so–called virginity tests.
Fed
up and angry with Egypt’s military rulers, tens of
thousands of demonstrators turned out on Friday in Tahrir
Square here for one of the largest demonstrations since the
former president, Hosni Mubarak, stepped down on Feb. 11.
The protest was being called the Friday of Warning.
Since
the military assumed direct control after Mr. Mubarak was
forced from power, it has seen its standing as defender of
the revolution called into question by actions that reflect
the authoritarian tactics of the past rather than a
blueprint for a democratic future, many here said.
Even
the new protest was met with violence. Around 3 a.m. on
Saturday, soldiers swept into Tahrir Square, beating
hundreds of protesters with clubs and firing heavy volleys
of gunfire to break up the demonstration, The Associated
Press reported. The Health Ministry said that one person had
been killed, according to the news agency.
The
troops dragged an unknown number of protesters away,
throwing them into police trucks, witnesses told The A.P.
“We
don’t want a confrontation with the army but they have to
understand that the people will not go quiet,” Nevine
Bakir, 42, said earlier as she entered the square. “This
is a revolution.”
The
military’s critics say that it is either unwilling or
incapable of ushering in an era of true democratic reform,
an end to corruption and the abolition of abusive police
practices.
“The
army and the people are not one hand,” the jailed blogger,
Michael Nabil, who is now facing a secret trial and a
three–year prison sentence, wrote in a posting. “The
revolution has so far managed to get rid of the dictator,
but the dictatorship still exists.”
But
for all the shock, even despair, expressed by many Egyptians
over the military’s actions, those who have served in and
studied the military said they had not been surprised, given
the military’s leadership and the responsibilities it has
been asked to accept, which far exceed its traditional
duties and capabilities.
A
military spokesman said that many of the charges were based
on rumor and that the military would investigate the
accusations of abuse against women. He added that the
military was dedicated to moving Egypt step by step toward
democracy and that it was responding to the interest of the
people.
However,
about the best even the military’s supporters can say for
its halting moves toward democracy, its efforts to protect
the network of Mubarak–era officials and allies and its
tolerance of the continuing practice of torturing prisoners,
is that the generals are uncomfortable with their new role
and slowly learning how to navigate the shoals of civilian
life.
“They
are well versed and knowledgeable individuals, but they were
not prepared for what they are doing right now,” said
Nabil Fouad, a retired general and professor of strategic
studies. “The army was suddenly handed this mission, and
it was complicated even more by the absence of the
police.”
Demonstrators
who gathered in Tahrir Square on Friday in one of the
largest demonstrations in recent weeks, seemed to share the
view of Mr. Nabil, the blogger — quite a change from the
early days when the military was embraced by the crowds.
“My
opinion is that the military council is a supporter of the
old regime,” said Sayyid Hozayen, 51, a businessman who
attended the rally. “They were a part of it, so they are
defending it in every way they can.”
The
focus of the attention is a small council of military
leaders unaccustomed to public accountability, let alone
having their decisions questioned. The Supreme Council of
the Armed Forces, which is collectively serving in the role
of the president — with final power over every decision
— has provided little insight into its deliberations or
decision–making process.
“I
think they are incapable of understanding the extent to
which the revolution wants to change things in the
country,” said Mustapha Kamel el–Sayyid, a political
science professor at The American University in Cairo. “To
them, removing the president was enough.”
Its
members, schooled in the old system of privilege, were not
only appointed by Mr. Mubarak, but they worked alongside him
for many years.
“You
are talking about people who spent a lot of time working
with the president, serving with him for a long time,
developing a human relationship over the years,” said Dr.
Khalid Sorur, a retired general who served for 30 years and
was chief of staff of the medical corps. “They are not
politicians, and now they have a lot of political tasks and
they don’t know how to do this job.”
At
the head of the council, the supreme leader, Field Marshal
Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, is a longtime close ally of Mr.
Mubarak. Field Marshal Tantawi, 75, has a long history of
shunning the news media while wielding considerable
influence behind the scenes in areas that reach far beyond
the nation’s defense.
For
the first time on Friday, Field Marshal Tantawi personally
and publicly became the focus of the crowd’s ire as
speakers called him a dictator and demanded that he resign.
“Dictator,
dictator, Tantawi is next,” chanted a speaker on the stage
before the crowd.
It
is Field Marshal Tantawi, perhaps more than any other single
person, who is now driving events in Egypt, and he has a
long–established record of support for Mr. Mubarak’s
priorities, chiefly an emphasis on Mr. Mubarak’s watchword
of “stability,” according to government documents and
people who say they have worked with him.
Before
he visited the United States in 2008, the American Embassy
in Cairo sent a cable to Washington describing him as
“aged and change–resistant,” while also “charming
and courtly.”
The
cable, obtained by WikiLeaks and since made public, said
that Field Marshal Tantawi was “mired in a post–Camp
David military paradigm that serves his cohorts’ narrow
interests for the past three decades.”
That
same memo, by Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone Jr., an
expert in Egypt, concluded that Field Marshal Tantawi and
“Mubarak are focused on regime stability and maintaining
the status quo through the end of their time. They simply do
not have the energy, inclination or world view to do
anything differently.”
At
a time when Field Marshal Tantawi has refused public
explanations or interviews, the cables provide some insight
into the American Embassy’s perception of his priorities.
“In
the cabinet, where he still wields significant influence,
Tantawi has opposed both economic and political reforms that
he perceives as eroding central government power,” Mr.
Ricciardone wrote in 2008. “He is supremely concerned with
national unity, and has opposed policy initiatives he views
as encouraging political or religious cleavages within
Egyptian society.”
At
the square on Friday, that sentiment seemed widely shared by
speakers and demonstrators alike.
“Oh
field marshal,” chanted the speaker on stage, “Why are
you quiet? Are you with them, or what?”